Officially, the government in Egypt says it has nothing to do with the coming election of an American president.
But statements published in Egyptian media indicate significant support for GOP candidate Donald Trump, because of the likelihood the Muslim Brotherhood will increase in influence if Hillary Clinton is elected.
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Wrote Rania Hefny, a columnist in Al-Ahram: "The foreign policy of the candidate with the highest chance of winning the presidential election, Hillary Clinton, will be far more inflexible than Obama's. She believes that the world's problems will be solved more quickly if the U.S. is involved in the solution. [If she is elected,] Libya and Iraq are expected to return to square one. Clinton's leadership of the American political arena will arouse the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization and the statelet Qatar, as well as ISIS – in whose creation she participated – and the focus will be on exporting the conflict to many kingdoms such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Morocco. Beware, beware, beware."
She continued: "You would do well to remember that Hillary Clinton supported the escalation of the war in Afghanistan and pushed for the ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq. She helped plan the attack on Libya, and encouraged Obama to bomb Syria without obtaining the support of the [UN] Security Council. "
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The comments were spotlighted by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Its report said, "In the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election, it appears that the Egyptian regime under President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi prefers Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton as the next president of the U.S. After Al-Sisi met with both presidential candidates in September 2016, his spokesman, 'Alaa Youssef, said that Egypt regarded both of them equally and that 'the [last] word in the U.S. presidential election will be said by the American voters, and we have nothing to do with it.'"
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The report continued: "However, despite this statement, there are clear indications that the Egyptian administration favors Trump over Clinton, especially in light of what is perceived in Egypt as the latter's support for the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and her disapproval of al-Sisi's ouster of the Muhammad Morsi regime on June 30, 2013. This preference of the Egyptian regime is reflected in statements by al-Sisi and his associates, as well as in reports and op-eds published in the Egyptian government press."
At the time al-Sisi met with Trump and Clinton, "reports on the meetings in the Egyptian and the global media stressed Trump's positive stance towards the Egyptian regime versus Clinton's more critical stance."
"For example, they emphasized that, during the brief part of the meeting attended by the media, Clinton had praised Egypt, but also implicitly criticized the state of human rights there, and said that she looked forward to talking about 'the path we are taking in order to build up a new civil society, a new modern country that upholds the rule of law, that respects human rights and liberties.' Trump, on the other hand, did not bring up these issues in his meeting with the Egyptian president, but lavished praise on Egypt for its tough stance against terror and promised that, under a Trump administration, the U.S. would be 'a loyal friend to Egypt,'" MEMRI said.
In an interview in September with CNN, al-Sisi said Trump would make a strong leader, but when asked to address the Clinton candidacy, he sidestepped. He said "political parties in the United States would not allow candidates to reach that level unless they are qualified."
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In the world of opinions and editorials, MEMRI documented multiple instances of praise for Trump and "distaste" for Clinton.
"Some even predicted that a Clinton win would herald further deterioration in Egypt-U.S. relations, due to her insistence on interfering in Egypt's affairs, such as human rights issues. These articles cited her support for the ouster of Hosni Mubarak and what they described as her positive stance towards the MB. It should be mentioned that, as early as 18 months ago, reports and op-eds in the government daily Al-Ahram have been claiming that Clinton's personal aide, Huma Abedin, is a member of the MB and serves as Clinton's liaison with the organization," MEMRI reported.
Among the statements:
- MP 'Imad Gad of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies said Clinton was a liar, but Trump, "if elected president, he will uproot the MB spirit from the White House and purge the [U.S.] state department of it ... Trump will never support the MB. A Trump victory will be best for the interest of the Middle East and of Egypt as a civil state."
- Journalist Wael Al-Abrashi said on his show on Dream TV that Egyptians tend to support Trump as the next U.S. president because of Clinton's known support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
- Karim 'Abd Al-Salam, of the daily Al-Yawm Al-Sabi', observed: "President al-Sisi met with the two U.S. presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. At first glance, and judging from news agency and press reports, the meeting with Hillary was restrained... Hillary Clinton made no clear statement regarding what her policy [towards Egypt] would be were she to be elected U.S. president. During the meeting, she settled for underlining the importance of strengthening bilateral relations ... and other such diplomatic statements made for the record, which conceal more than they reveal."The president's meeting with Republican candidate Trump was totally different. During the meeting, Trump largely agreed with the president's plan for combating terrorism and for economic growth, and at its conclusion he issued statements of explicit future support for Egypt and its president. The Republican candidate stated that he would be a powerful friend and ally of Egypt in all areas, while reiterating his full support for Egypt's efforts to combat terrorism and for economic and military cooperation..."
- In Al-Ahram, Muhammad Sabreen, a columnist, said: "I believe that Hillary Clinton and her Democratic camp are trying to bring back warmer [relations with Egypt] than existed under Obama, while attempting to blackmail [the Egyptian regime] into bringing the political Islam organizations into Egypt's political arena. On the other hand, Trump and his campaign are making grand promises about the importance and necessity of [U.S.] cooperation with Egypt. In an important and meticulously planned message, he says that under his presidency, the U.S. would be a friend on which Egypt could rely..."
- Al-Watan columnist 'Imad Al-Din Adib accused Clinton of hypocrisy for demanding the removal of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak but letting Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad stay. "They have not demanded [a removal] of Assad, who has murdered nearly 400,000 of his own people, wounded two million civilians, and expelled 11 million openly, in broad daylight! Washington has not demanded that Bashar Al-Assad of the barrel bombs, who uses missiles against civilians and chemical weapons against women, children, and the elderly, leave at once."
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Another member of parliament, Mustafa Al-Naggar, disagreed, calling Clinton the lesser evil of the two.
"This does not mean that Hillary Clinton is an angel who will do good for the world and Arab countries," he wrote. "But a choice between two bad things does not mean choosing the better one, but choosing the lesser evil."
WND reported this week a video about Huma Abedin, Clinton's closest adviser details many of the revelations WND has reported for years, including her ties to terrorists and funders of the 9/11 attacks.
Watch the video released by Anonymous detailing Abedin's shocking ties:
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WND has reported Abedin's known ties to the Muslim Brotherhood – a group bent on "destroying Western civilization from within" – and other Islamic supremacists. As WND has extensively reported, the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic supremacist connections not only extend to Abedin's mother and father, who are both deeply tied to al-Qaida fronts, but to Abedin herself.